Chapter 14:
abc are memories.
He overcame his weariness with almost superhuman strength, and stood up, shaking with rage. And when he turned around to face the stranger, the man almost jumped with surprise- Harry's normally gently green eyes were now a startling emerald, so furious and full of rage that even the man himself- who was the very essence of evil- didn't dare to face those eyes.
The murderer took a step back, almost unconsciously. His firm stance seemed to waver as he beheld the young boy, short, small, frail - yet powerful. His newly-found strength seemed to seep from every part of him, filling the room with anger and grief. The stranger found himself staggering as the grief continued to escape every pore of the lad's body, clouding his mind. The grief of a small child who knows that he will never see those closest to him again.
Harry found himself upright, trembling with the pain that threatened to overcome him. His eyes clouded and filmed over as he stared unfocusing at the bodies of his relatives lying on the floor, but then took the stranger by surprise as they suddenly swept upwards and seemed to drill straight into the soul. Harry just looked at the stranger, examined him, and then hunched over again.
"Leave. Just leave. Please go away." A young child's plea, whispered, came from his lips.
When Harry looked up again, tears in his eyes, he found the room empty. Nobody remained but the cold, slowly stiffening bodies of his family. He began to sob as he remembered all of the times he had spent with his family.
A little boy, perhaps three or four years old, crouches under a table. His green eyes sparkle, and he smirks at the boy crouching next to him, who is about a year his senior. They hear their mother walking around the grass, searching for them, calling their names, and grin mischievously at each other.
Another image of the two boys. This time the younger one is four, and the older five. They and their parents are having a picnic on the terrace, and the older boy reaches across the table with a napkin to wipe a smudge from the corner of his little brother's mouth in a sweet show of childish affection.
The boy is seven now. He has just gotten his first report card from school and beams proudly as his mother holds up a card smudged with 'A's. He hugs his older brother, who is standing nearby holding up a similar card. Their father, brimming with pride, is standing in the background.
Once again, the two boys. They are camping in the woods, sitting and toasting marshmallows. It was here where they first discovered 'truth or dare', and took turns daring the other to eat burned marshmallows. Impish grins adorn both the faces, and the fire reflects off the younger brother's silky black hair.
This time, the boy appears with one of his friends. They frolic together on a couch, their hair in wild disarray, their faces smiling, excited.
The boy is nine. He has lost none of the childish innocence he had a child, and has grown little. He is less frail now, however, and is busily engaged in a time-consuming game of "Snakes and Ladders" with his older brother, Dudley. They are debating whether the spinner landed on the number 5 or 6, their voices rising and cheeks flushing as the argument gets more heated. In the background, their parents are clutching their heads in mock pain, shaking their heads in amusement. The father mouths "Boys will be boys" and the mother agrees, nodding. Back in the foreground, the boys have decided that debating is pointless and hug each other.
The boy is eleven. His mother has just declared that school has been canceled due to a snow storm, and the boy and his brother are overjoyed. After dressing, both run outside. There wasn't much more than a foot of snow on the ground, but what snow it was! Just the perfect texture, hardness, flakiness—it was perfect!
"Snowball fight!" Dudley declared.
Harry nodded, and the two of them went to opposite sides of the lawn.
"One, two, three, four, I declare a snow WAR!"
And so it started.
Harry seized a clump of snow from the ground, and hurled it at Dudley. Dudley managed to intercept it, and hurled it back at Harry, hitting him straight in the face, causing an unhappy shriek from Harry.
Just then, he noticed a large clump of white on the car. Grinning evilly, Harry ducked and ran to the car, and grabbed the white clump.
Suddenly, he shrieked. The white clump was ALIVE- warm, and soft, and FEATHERY!
Harry shook his head. No, this wasn't the way things should have turned out. If it hadn't been for that owl... his pain threatened to engulf him, and he sniffled twice, miserably. He tried to think of something else to distract him, and began changing history in his mind.
Just then, he noticed a large clump of white on the car. Grinning evilly, Harry ducked and ran to the car, and grabbed the white clump. Suddenly, he - no, Dudley - shrieked.
"No, Harry! Please don't throw it at me!" he yelled in mock fear.
Harry's grin broadened as he lifted the heavy, compact snow chunk and prepared to hurl it at his brother. "Ready or not, here I come!" he yelled, and threw the snow with all his might at Dudley.
Dudley spluttered and spent almost half a minute clearing snow from his face, while Harry chuckled and prepared a new arsenal of snow balls. He even started building a snow fort, when suddenly a huge amount of frozen cold ice slipped down his back.
"OW ow ow owowow!" Harry jumped up and down, trying to dislodge the icicle that seemed to be biting him with cold, while Dudley roared with laughter.
"Hahaha! Serves you right!" he grinned.
At that point, as Harry prepared his 'super-Harry-throwing-snow-ball-attempt' at Dudley, their father walked by dressed in a nice suit. "I'm off to work!" he called cheerfully to his sons. "Enjoy the snow while it-" he broke off because a large snowball thrown by Harry had just narrowly missed his nose. "Boys! Be careful, you could have hurt somebody!"
He had to duck again in a few seconds when a snowball thrown by Dudley almost swept his hat off his head, and then again a few seconds later. The boys ganged up together, piled their snowballs on top of each other and began pelting their poor father.
Vernon spent maybe a few seconds deciding what to do, and then made up his mind. He ran inside, left his laptop by the door, and joined the cheering boys.
"Get dad! Get dad!" Dudley yelled to Harry, who responded by hurling a snowball at his brother's face and yelling back "Go get yourself!" In a few seconds, though, they decided on a free-for-all which resulted in everyone losing (or winning) every game.
At noon, Petunia came out with a large steaming pot of cocoa and cups to go around. She poured sweet hot chocolate for everyone, and handed out home-made ginger-snaps. The entire family sat outside in the snow, bundled up, sipping the sweet liquid and crunching on the tangy cookies. The boys' cheeks were flushed with cold and excitement, and both felt as if it had been the best day of their life.
Suddenly, someone tapped Harry on the shoulder. Harry jumped, barely noticing that all his tears had dried up and that he had been so caught up in his fantasy world, he had forgotten about everything about him. A tear began to course down his cheek. Reality was just too much for him, he couldn't deal with it, he had to get away... he tried to engross himself in his new fantasy but was jolted away again by another tap on his shoulder.
Harry looked up dully. Who was it this time? Some other stranger with a stick who would now finish off the Dursley family by killing him? To his surprise, he found that he really didn't care. What difference did it make /now, of all times? If he died, it would all be as if nothing had happened, as if he and the Dursleys had never existed. Death would be much easier then continuing existence without his family...
Everyone, thanks so much for bearing with me! I'm so sorry for not updating for so long... It's just that I asked for 6 reviews, but didn't get them for over three months, so I just felt depressed and didn't write. Later, I DID get reviews, but had given up on checking my email.. well, in other words, I found the reviews yesterday and was writing all of yesterday and today. So, here's the new chapter! I know better now, so I won't try to create an expectations at all.
I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter, and, if you have time, I'd appreciate any suggestions/comments/questions.